Plainfield Housing Market 'Turning Ugly,' Study Says

PLAINFIELD, IL — Plainfield is one of nine Illinois communities where the housing market could turn "ugly," according to a new study. Illinois has the second-most communities on the list of the top 50 most at-risk housing market, trailing only Florida.

Consumer finance advocacy group GO Banking Rates looked at 500 American cities to see which have the softest housing markets at risk of getting worse. It then compiled a list of the 50 markets "turning ugly," using criteria like foreclosure and underwater mortgage rates, home value growth and the number of for-sale homes taking price cuts. Those rates were compared to national averages to see which markets are lagging the most.

Turns out, many Illinois cities have sluggish housing markets. Plainfield ranked as the No. 37 housing market most at risk of turning ugly, according to Go Banking Rates.

Home prices are still rising in Plainfield, with prices increasing by 3.6 percent over the last two years. (The median list price in Plainfield is $284,450.) Plainfield also has a relatively low percent of underwater mortgages, meaning a home is worth less than the amount owed on it. Plainfield has a 7.7 underwater mortgage rate, second-lowest of any Illinois town on the list after Naperville (6.5 percent)

But Plainfield's price growth rate is below the national average, according to Go Banking Rates. Plainfield also losses points for its relatively high foreclosure rate of 1 in every 1,138 homes. Plus, the village has the second-highest percent of for-sale homes seeing price cuts, at 25.3 percent.

At No. 37, Plainfield is the second-lowest ranked Illinois community to make the list of most at-risk housing markets (a higher ranking means a housing market is more at risk.) Other Illinois communities to make the list are: Peoria (No. 1), Aurora (No. 9), Elgin (No. 14), Decatur (No. 15), Joliet (No. 17), Rockford (No. 23), Champaign (No. 29), and Naperville (No. 46).

Naperville is the most-upscale Illinois community to make the list, but it is among plenty of other wealthy communities with slumping housing markets, including Naples, Fla. (No. 40) and Annapolis, Md. (No. 31).

Like many other cities with a high concentration of luxury housing, Naperville has seen its average home prices drop by over 2 percent in the last two years, according to Go Banking Rates. Naperville has the highest percentage of listed homes needing price cuts of any city to make the list.

Since the housing market collapse in 2005, Illinois has had one of the slowest recoveries in the nation. Since then, prices are up just 6 percent in the state, below the national price growth rate of 30 percent, according to Wirepoints.

To see Go Banking Rates full list of the top 50 housing markets poised to turn ugly, click here.